Father Mann organized the Tablet Forum’s May 10, 2013, NYC premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home, an award-winning documentary about farmers and their change of heart about animals. Father Mann is a gifted writer and speaker known for his infectious enthusiasm and warm sense of humor. The Tablet Forum events offer attendees the chance to view films, hear speakers, and participate in discussion of a wide range of topics which foster community and celebrate the potential we each have to make a difference for those most in need. The May 10 film premiere is a free event that is open to the public. Learn more at http://www.tribeofheart.org/tabletforum

Father Mann’s own journey has been inspired by visionaries such as Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton, who have shown compassion and moral leadership in the face of injustice. He recently had a deep personal awakening to the plight of animals, and has since incorporated the values of veganism and animal rights into his spiritual life and vision of a more just and peaceful world.

The New York City premiere of Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home is the first Tablet Forum to explore the ethical dimensions of our society’s relationship to animals.

Chicago’s first teacher strike in 25 years came to an end Tuesday after more than a week of discussions and rallies that had parents scrambling to find alternative care for their children.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s House of Delegates — nearly 800 members — voted to end the strike during a meeting at Operating Engineers Hall, at 2260 Grove Street, on the city’s south side.

“We feel very positive about moving forward. We feel grateful that we have a united union, and that when a union moves together we have amazing things happen,” CTU’s president, Karen Lewis, said shortly after the vote.

The action comes after delegates had a chance to review a contract proposal solidified over the weekend and means roughly 350,000 Chicago Public Schools students will head back to class on Wednesday.

It does not mean, however, an automatic approval of that contract. Ratification of the contract requires a separate vote from the union’s rank and file.

School board president David Vitale, who was an integral part of talks once the strike began, expressed confidence there would be no issues.

“This is a fair contract that’s actually respectful for our teachers,” he said after the union vote. “This will transform the way we run the district to the benefit of teachers, not just to our kids.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the offer on the table an “honest compromise” and said it means returning Chicago’s schools to their primary purpose: educating children.

“It means a new day and a new direction for the Chicago Public Schools, and [with] this contract we gave our children a seat at the table,” he said.

CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard said he was “overjoyed” that students would be returning to class Wednesday. He said the contract, coupled with an improved graduation rate and improved SAT scores, were steps in the right direction.

“With this agreement now we have the foundation for transformation,” said Brizard. “We know that we can make Chicago the best urban school district in America.”

Still, Lewis conceded that trust remains “a big issue” between school bureaucrats and teachers, and said she hopes the mayor — a man she’s previously classified as a bully — “carries out this contract in good faith.”

Thousands of teachers in the nation’s third-largest school district walked off the job on Sept. 10 after more than a year of slow, contentious negotiations over salary, health benefits and job security.

On Monday, Emanuel and CPS attorneys filed a request for an injunction to force teachers off the picket lines, claiming the outstanding issues, as publicly stated by the CTU — teacher evaluations and recalls — weren’t legal reasons for a work stoppage.

A Cook County judge declined the mayor’s request to hold a same-day hearing on the injunction request. Instead, that hearing would have been held Wednesday. With Tuesday’s action by the House of Delegates, that hearing is no longer necessary.

Teachers walked off the job for 19 days in October 1987. Prior to that, there had been nine strikes between 1969 and 1987.

This latest strike forced busy parents to find alternative care for their children. Many said they exhausted available vacation time. Others made use of the nearly 150 “Children First” sites that provided students with alternative programming and meals.

What Are Chicken Nuggets Made Of?

(*****The Other Pink Slime ******)

Illegal Geoduck Shipments Seized in Seattle

By News Desk

Washington State Fish & Wildlife officials are working were in overdrive this week trying to track down geoducks — large, long-necked clams — that may have been improperly or unsafely harvested, King5 News reported Thursday.”We are up to our necks…

Unacceptable Levels: New film about toxins in our food, cosmetics & environment

by geobear7

Food Freedom News

“Unacceptable Levels” is a feature length film, in conjunction with learned scientists, doctors, and experts in the field, who will reveal the truth about toxins in the environment, and in ourselves. Trailer:

Health

Multiple Sclerosis: The Cause and Solution Uncovered

by geobear7

Food Freedom News

By Woodrow Monte

An exhaustive analysis of the medical and scientific literature, authored by a uniquely qualified food scientist, persuasively reveals the cause of MS and describes a path to recovery and prevention. The symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis are identical to those of an uncommon form of poisoning—methanol poisoning.

Individuals who have been exposed to this poison over a long period of time, in fact, develop MS. This poison—methanol–is a major component of cigarette smoke, which, until now, has been the only known cause of Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Monte’s compelling work reveals that this poison is also contained in certain foods that are canned and smoked or have had the insidious sweetener, aspartame, added to them.

Unfortunately, the truth has been obscured due to the fact that methanol is a poisonous to humans and not to (laboratory) animals.

Holistic Health

Tell Your Doctor: If You Don’t Show Me This, You’re Breaking the Law

Posted By Dr. Mercola

The Colorado Board of Health has been holding hearings on whether or not to adopt a new rule that would mandate healthcare workers get an annual flu vaccine, with NO religious or conscientious/philosophical belief exemptions. A federal vaccine advisory committee has already voted to encourage hospitals and medical facilities to force health care workers to get an annual flu shot as a condition of employment
According to the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), there’s been an increase of reports of harassment in the past two years – not only from parents being coerced and “fired” by pediatricians if they decline one or more vaccines for their children – but also from health professionals. More health care workers are reporting being threatened and fired from their jobs for declining influenza vaccination, even in cases where they’ve suffered side effects from previous flu shots or other vaccinations or have health conditions that could get worse if they are forced to get vaccinated ….

Pet Health

Dem Sen. Brown urges FDA to better regulate Chinese-made dog food

By Josiah Ryan

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) called on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday to get more “aggressive” in regulating Chinese-made dog food that some owners suspect has sickened and killed their pets.

A Cleaner, Greener Home for You and Your Pet

Breathe Easier Knowing Your Home is Toxin Free

Out of all the toxic environments that your pet will be exposed to in its lifetime, it is the place where we feel safest that may be the most dangerous to your pet’s health.

The typical modern home has more chemicals, gases, and natural toxins than anything your pet is likely to come across while roaming the neighborhood, yet most pet owners are blithely unaware of the dangers being posed by such seemingly innocuous products like air fresheners and furniture polishes.

Just as humans can fall ill as the result of sensitivity to chemicals, animals suffer from physical reactions to chemicals that are used to manufacture furniture and textiles in the home, and cleaning products that leave residual films. Air fresheners, meanwhile, may give the appearance of leaving a clean, fresh scent, but are actually irritating to the breathing passages and mucus membranes. Even damp carpeting can pose a health risk to pets, especially since they are so close to the source.

To make matters worse, plants, which are often used to keep indoor air clean, can be toxic for your pet as well, should Kitty or Fido decide to take a bite out of one of them.

Fortunately, there are things you can do to protect your pet from “chemical overload.”….

Alternative Veterinary Treatments

Four therapeutic approaches when traditional animal medicine just doesn’t work

Pets, like people, can suffer from a variety of debilitating chronic, degenerative conditions. Treatment options, meanwhile, are sometimes limited and frustrating, focusing on alleviating symptoms through the use of narcotics and other means. There may be another solution, though. Your veterinarian may recommend an alternative therapeutic approach to your pet’s health.

Alternative therapies for pets have taken giant leaps in the success rate of post-operative recovery, as well as cases involving degenerative spine issues, neurologic disc problems, hip dysplasia and cruciate ligament injuries. The aim of alternative veterinary therapy is to heal your pet using a whole body approach. The horse and dog racing industry have known this for years; alternative therapy stems from their specialized animal health practices.

To find out more, petMD’s Yahaira Cespedes spoke with Dr. Gerald Johnson, a holistic veterinarian with many years’ experience on primarily dogs and horses. He utilizes a variety of alternative therapies on patients at his practice. Their advantage: alternative therapies treat your pet’s condition by addressing the cause of the disease, while keeping you actively involved in your pet’s treatment…..

Recalls

Sysco Recalls Beef Patties From Canada After FSIS Alert

by Dan Flynn

…….The alert was for beef patties from Canada made by the same company that ceased operations in mid-February, went into receivership, and then was the subject of the discovery of possible E. coli O1457:H7 contamination that had led to numerous product recalls in Canada.

What happened to beef patties imported to Sysco Food Services in the American border town of Blaine, WA was for a time a mystery because FSIS was not able to find anyone at the company to talk to about it.

The Houston-based company, a Fortune 500 Company with $37.24 billion in revenue last year, is one of the largest food distributors in the U.S. It employs about 47,000 people and has food warehouses throughout the country.

When the public health alert was issued, Food Safety News learned it was likely to be turned into a recall, and that has now occurred.

The recalled beef patties were sent to the U.S. states from the same troubled plant responsible for numerous recalls in Canada comes more than a month after the problem began. The FSIS said the ground beef involved might be contaminated with O157:H7, a strain of E. coli that can cause serious human illness and in some cases death……

Salmonella Causes A Recall Of Fresh Jalapenos

By News Desk

Newport, Kentucky-based Castellini Poduce has issued an unclassified recall on fresh jalapenos in packs of two, 10, and 40. The recalled jalapenos did reach five divisions of Rosemont,IL-based US Foods (formerly U.S. Foodservice) between March 9 and 24, according to the…

The Trend in Backyard Chickens and Goats has Left Rescues Overrun with Abandoned Livestock

Wayne Geiger fields up to 10 calls per week about hens and roosters in need of new homes. When Geiger founded Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary in 2002, most of the calls he received involved horses, sheep and cattle that were victims of neglect or cruelty. There were almost no requests to help chickens. Geiger blames the increased demand on the popularity of urban farming.

For many urban agrarians, chickens and goats are the perfect addition to a backyard farm, providing eggs and milk to complement bumper crops of tomatoes and peas. But when the novelty of having a chirping chick wears off or adorable kids turn into grownup goats that eat the landscaping, the animals are often surrendered to rescue groups or abandoned.

As urban homesteading continues its rise, city backyards are booming with agrarian dreams: chickens peck near privacy fences, milk-producing goats bleat greetings to overflying airplanes, and tomato and pea plants stretch toward the smoggy sun. But coupled with these well-intentioned back-to-the-earth efforts is a dark side, says E Magazine’s Jodi Helmer, as the farm animals we bring to the city get short shrift.

Animal rescue centers like Lighthouse Farm Sanctuary near Salem, Oregon; the Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in upstate New York; and Chicken Run Rescue in Minneapolis, Minnesota—who has experienced a 780 percent increase in rescue requests over the last five years—do their best to care for animals turned out by their owners, but resources are scarce. “Most urban shelters were not designed to house livestock,” Stephen Zawistowski, executive vice president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals tells Helmer, leaving them vulnerable to euthanasia.

Urban goat ownership will likely increase as cities like Minneapolis aim to overturn ordinances banning goats within city limits, joining towns including Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Charlottesville, Virginia.

Friends and Sponsors

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